If one single person is not happy.indd

If one single person is not
happy, nobody is happy
Lessons for life as an answer to pressure, isolation and suicide
Last year the RVU broadcast the awarded documentary: “The Japanese lesson
for life”, in the series Prospects (Vergezicht). There was a profound account in
images of Mr Toshiro Kanamori, an inspiring, very authentic teacher who creates
linkedness with and among his pupils against the conservative current. The film
has been watched by many teachers and educational counsellors in the meantime.
And the reactions are the same every time: people are deeply impressed.
Kanamori, philosopher and socio-historical free-thinker with a powerful human
vision, has one wish: teaching children to become happy together. I did have one
wish: meeting this very special man!
Harmony and sense of community
In July 2006 I travelled to Japan for my search. In order to
attain insight in the Japanese educational system and historical
influences I contacted Professor Dr Tsujii, educationalist and
entrepreneur.
It is not easy to describe the Japanese culture, of which
education is a part, in a few sentences. Education itself is easier
to describe: a strictly classical teaching with an unambiguous
curriculum. In its appearance it is classical and traditional
according to our standards; within the Japanese culture it is a
self-evident form of education. The mentality of the Shogun
and the Samurai (one way, which you do not deviate from) can
still be felt. Children enjoy a relatively high degree of freedom
at an early age, which is restricted per year when they are
going to school. The Japanese community is aimed at harmony.
Expression is hardly visible. Emotions are shown as little as
possible. Loyalty is common property. First there is loyalty to
the company, next to your family. Employees work until late in
the evening. An energy drink on your desk and going on until
you collapse, is raising your status. You are showing at all times
that you are available maximally for your firm, the place where
your social life is set for the bigger part. The group has priority
over the individual. In the small houses there is relatively little
privacy. The Japanese person is there for Japan, an island of 120
million inhabitants, which has hardly looked across the water
for years, but has now ‘the Western world’ as a big, modern
example.
Much volume, little quality
Of course the national character and this education have
brought the Japanese much prosperity in their economic flight
after World War Two. But education only trains memorizing
and makes ‘volume’. Containing a lot, ready knowledge and
being able to reproduce in detail. That makes the Japanese into
perfect copiers. But it is ‘quality’ that is lacking. Innovation
on one’s own initiative cannot or can hardly be found and is
absolutely not stimulated.
The children eat the same fruit at the same time
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Egoscoop 2008
If one single person is not happy, nobody is happy
Consequences
The children who have to study for hours, often attend two
schools and sometimes even a summer school during the
holidays, all of them are no longer able to resist this pressure.
According to Professor Dr Tsujii there are at the moment some
1 million children at home, who are bending under the system
and who do not dare to show themselves in public anymore
for shame of their family. They are called ‘Ronin’ named after
the Samurai (militaries) who were violated in their honour and
treated as outcasts. Also the number of suicides has increased
frightfully.
Documentary
The documentary is exceptional for Japanese notions, but also
within our context it is highly exceptional. Mr Kanamori (he is
57 years old in the documentary) has been a teacher for more
than 30 years. He worked at several primary schools. Teachers
frequently attend his lessons due to his special vision and
approach: he encourages children to enjoy themselves and tells
that the children must confirm their own qualities as well as
those of their friends and that they must have them confirmed.
He wants a class in which children have a strong emotional
bond and he passes ideas how this can be achieved in life.
The film in group 6 starts with Myfoeyou, a girl whose father
has died. She has so often told about him that she can do it
with joy. During all kinds of activities the joy of the playing is
visible. Children are jumping into a river and intp the pools on
the muddy school yard. In June there arises a problem. Some
children are bullied because of their report marks. Kanamori is
concerned about the feelings of contempt that children have. He
asks them ‘to look into their hearts’ and asks them to answer the
question ”Why are you treating your friends with contempt?”
Not a single pupil says about himself that he has been mean.
Kanamori is angry when the children are blaming each other
and want to keep out of harm’s way themselves. Everybody
has to write a letter for the class diary. After having read the
letters to each other and talking about them the children that
were bullied and those who bullied, start to show their feelings.
Yami stands up and she tells that she was bullied in the past
(and starts crying). She knew how nasty it was, but when she
remembered what it had been like to be bullied oneself, she
became afraid that it would happen again and said nothing.
While she is telling this, she is passionately crying. Kanamori
says he can understand this very well. He confirms the fear and
the sadness.
In October everybody is looking forward to the day that the selfmade rafts will be sailing. The children have done everything
themselves: from the design, the collecting of materials till the
building. Now the moment is almost there. However, Kanamori
is angry. Yuto has been chattering all morning and has not
done what was required, despite several warnings. Kanamori
is talking to him about it and asks the class why they did not
talk to him and help him. Kanamori says that Yuto may not
join them on the raft-sailing. Yo and Omoto are in the same
team and do not agree with his decision. They are revolting.
They are delivering an emotional argument and say that his
behaviour in class and building the rafts have nothing to do
with each other. They want another chance for him. Mayuka
is crying when she says that they really need Yuto. The class
agrees that the punishment is not fair and that they will help
Yuto to behave differently. Kanamori confirms the reasoning.
The class starts to applaud. The orators are the heroes. Yuto
If one single person is not happy, nobody is happy Egoscoop 2008
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can go along. The next day he writes
in the class diary that he is sorry that
he has caused misery and he thanks
the children who stood up for him.
He also thanks the children who
cheered him up during to walk to the
swimming pool where the rafts were
launched. At the swimming pool
Kanamori tells that he is impressed
by the children’s ‘victory’. Being able
to stand up for each other and to
reason so purely is something even
adults cannot do.
If one single person is not happy,
nobody is happy
On a small field behind the school a
child tells what the lesson for life of
Kanamori is: “We are going to school
to be happy and to make happy. If one
single person is not happy, nobody is
happy.”
In December Tsubasa’s father suddenly dies. The children would
like to cheer him up, but realize that it is almost impossible.
After school they take sweets to him ”He can eat a month on
them.” All children write letters to cheer him up.
Four days after his father’s death Tsubasa comes to school.
He and his mother are impressed by the letters. One child is
writing: “You have lost your father who used to call you so cheerfully.
I must cry when I think of it. We can do nothing about it. But if we
can help you in another way, you must say so.”
In Myfoeyoe’s letter who lost her father when she was 3 it said:
”Dear Tsubasa, I think you still grieve about your father’s death.
But one day you will be able to tell about him. You must be strong
now for your father. Do not brush this aside too quickly. Take care.”
After group 6 they are going to different classes. They are
talking about the farewell party. Yo and Kenta have an idea.
During the class talk they tell that they have promised to
take good care of Tsubasa after his father’s death. Now they
want to let Tsubasa’s and Myfoeyoe’s fathers know they are
cheerful and good friends. They are writing a huge letter on
the sandy field outside with sticks and boards (each child a
character) which can be read from heaven and they read them
aloud together. They say goodbye and Kanamori writes on
the blackboard: “forming a bond”. The children are in a circle
holding hands and Kanamori tells that when it mattered his
friends have always been there for each other and that they
have understood the sense of life in that way. Laughing, crying,
learning. The children now know how friendship bonds are
made by respecting each other’s feelings. In that way they have
learnt that having an eye for each other is the secret to become
happy.
Broadcast by “Vergezicht” (prospects) of RVU 2005
Original title: “”Children Full of Life” Director: Noboru
Kaetsu © NHK 2003
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Egoscoop 2008
If one single person is not happy, nobody is happy
Search
After having seen the documentary a meeting with this
special man was a big wish. With a name (Kanamori), the city
(Kanazawa, 50,000 inhabitants, northwest of Tokyo) and a
few pictures of the documentary I travelled to Japan. Entering
Kanazawa by train, the photos of the school turned out to be no
resources. All schools are built in the same style with the same
“sandy field” and a swimming pool next to them. Nevertheless
people remembered his face and family name and remembered
he had been seen on Japanese television. By means of a small
internet text we discovered he was teaching at ‘Seinambu
elementary school’. I had the school called and could make an
appointment after the weekend. When I entered the school,
took off my shoes, put on some slippers and was walking with
the headmaster through the building, a feeling of tension,
longing, happiness and excitement surprised me. In a school of
600 children Mr Kanamori had his classroom at the end of a
long corridor. When I walked into the classroom and he called:
“Come in” the children started to clap and laugh. It was as if I
walked into the documentary. The reception was hearty. Many
children came to me practising learnt English sentences. In the
break we retreated with our interpreter for an hour’s talk.
Meeting and talk
Kanamori studied pedagogic and philosophy at the faculty of
Sport at the University of Kanazawa. In 1997 he was awarded
an educational prize for his work and philosophy. His book
‘Full of hope in the classroom’ has been translated into Korean
and has sold well. A talk with the 60-year-old Kanamori is
a profound, emotional experience. He describes the substance
of his acting and its justification. Kanamori is sociohistorically well educated, knows the Japanese educational
history, its consequences and he has based his vision on clear
philosophies.
After the First World War the authorities had one educational
system. The same books, the same trainings. A will was
without intervention of adults
in order to reconstruct in case of
conflicts from all perspectives.
5.
Children must be freed
from the expectations of the parents.
Children must learn to word their
own needs, talk freely and take away
the pressure that way. That is why he
talks a lot with children about what
occupies them and teaches them to
argue.
imposed on people and the authorities determined everything.
Several ‘free teachers’ backed out of that system, but were all
arrested during the Second World War. For Japan did not need
any independent thinkers, it wanted a trained and obedient
nation.
Mr Kanamori is one of the few who have continued the line
of the ‘free teachers’ after the Second World War. He noticed
that relationships hardened and that the number of isolated
persons (Ronin) and suicides increased frightfully. He was
challenged as a philosopher to work with children and he was
inspired by among others the Swiss-French philosopher, writer
and composer Rousseau (1) and by the Swiss educator of the
poor and educational renovator Pestalozzi (2). He shared their
views and translated them into the Japanese context. Kanamori
wanted children who were able to think themselves and who
would be good for themselves and others.
From a historical notion, the view on social tendencies and a
study of the ‘free-thinkers’ he defined his own standards and
truths. In a partition into five he gives the substances
1. Children must be allowed to be children (they
are not little adults): playing, having fun, feeling
free, acquiring experiences with priority for their
spontaneous vitality. Then he goes outside with the
whole group and he plays together with them in
the water, in the mud, in the snow.
2. Children must eat well and must know the value of
food. That is why the class eats together, talks about
the food and grows their own rice and vegetables.
3. Every human being is a unique being and he is all
there. That is why Kanamori organizes many talks
in which the children’s feelings emerge.
4. You may not put your own fate into the hands of
others. It is important to also determine things
yourself, to create and to take responsibility. That
is why he has children organize things together
The Japanese culture is aimed at
harmony and sense of community.
“First the other person, then me.” The
question if he thinks the relationship
or autonomy is most important
can hardly be answered. Of course
autonomy is important within the
context in which everything is
directed at the relationship. And after
thinking for a long time he says that
people are all there as individuals to
be able to mean something for others.
He also thinks wellbeing and involvement are comparable
entities and they are of evident significance.
Two of Kanamori’s children died as infants. He knows as
nobody else that circumstances are changing and can often
not be determined. He did not become embittered, but he
realized that life was full of dangers and mortal. That is why
it is so valuable and why people make the effort to influence
it as favourably as possible. Death gives life its value. Really
enjoying things and being happy is the highest attainable.
Because giving each other attention and imagining oneself in
the other ‘are on the schedule’ Kanamori can express his lessons
of life to his pupils in one sentence: “If one single person is not
happy, nobody is happy.” And during those lessons Kanamori
is not the only source of inspiration.
A wheelchair rider, a pregnant woman and a terminal
patient
One can read a few stories about his philosophies and guests in
a Japanese newspaper. Souma is an acquaintance of Kanamori
and is in a wheelchair. When he was seven years old he broke
his back and was paralysed in his legs. When he was 20 he
had to have his legs amputated. He regularly visits Kanamori’s
class. Then he shows the children a film about his life. He has
“rolled” the marathon a few times. Kanomori has informed the
children before and they have prepared questions, but when
Kouma enters the classroom, initially the children hardly dare
to ask any questions. But as soon as one child starts, more are to
follow. They want to know if Souma has ever been bullied. Then
Souma tells that he has not really been bullied, but that “he has
seen the pain in other people’s eyes.” He tells how he considered
suicide when a nurse put him in bath and confronted him with
the body he could and should be happy with. She changed his
attitude towards life. The children do not want to see artificial
legs and Souma moves from his wheelchair to the table onto
a chair and back again. The children show admiration and do
If one single person is not happy, nobody is happy Egoscoop 2008
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not think it is strange anymore. They believe Souma as he tells
them that he is really satisfied and happy.
Kanamori in the Japanese newspaper
Kanamori does not think that the children understand
the impact, but that they can recall these images if they are
confronted with them later. Then it will be easier for them
to think from the other one’s perspective. “I have sown in
their heads,” according to Kanamori, “now they may reap
themselves.”
One can read in the letters that the children are writing to
Souma among others: “The nurse is a powerful woman.” “If you
really want something, you can achieve much.” “I really am glad
I got to know Souma.”
Also highly pregnant women and terminal patients come and
tell in Kanamori’s class about life and death. The women who
are going to give birth to new life and the patients who consider
Yasuo Souma visits the class of Kanamori
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If one single person is not happy, nobody is happy
their lives and everything worth while, tell what life is really
about. Those are experiences which they share together and
discuss in class. Another of Kanamori’s statements is: ”Being
in the classroom is not the most important characteristic of
education. Living is something you learn by playing in the
world around you.”
Sport is not enough
One can read in another article what the philosophy is behind
playing in the mud. During a hot summer it has rained heavily.
The children have their swimming clothes with them (every
school has its own swimming pool). The schedule says ‘language’
but that does not seem useful to Kanamori. He writes on the
blackboard: “Listen carefully! Watch attentively! Love your
entire body. You must receive the earth, the wind, the rain
and the voice of your friends.” He tells they are going to play
outside but that a “nice play” is not enough. Enjoying oneself is
not enough. The children go outside barefooted and sit down
on the ground. Kanamori asks if everyone will close his eyes.
The children may pick mud and throw it, but they have to keep
listening what is happening. When all the children are covered
with mud they start gliding through the pools. Some children
are hesitating and do not dare to do it. But when a number
of children start everybody naturally joins them after some
time. The fun can be seen and heard. Kanamori tells: “Children
do not often play outside in Japan. Sport is important, but
is often very competitive. Playing is different. It gives much
wider experiences than competitive sports. Children must
remain children to learn to play.” Kanamori talks a lot with
children about their experiences. “The words of all children are
important. Every day three children read aloud their written
down experiences. They talk about these. If you talk together,
children become familiar with each other. In the beginning
they do not dare to express their opinions and to show their
feelings. They start doing that as soon as they become familiar
and if adults receive their words seriously.”
I have become familiar and I have received Kanamori’s words
seriously. Time to say goodbye. The headmaster walks me to
the taxi and Kanamori… he is again teaching children how to
be happy.
Education and upbringing
In ‘van Dale’ education is defined as: systematically bringing
across knowledge and skills by skilled teachers. And upbringing:
rearing and forming. Teachers as Kanamori do not distinguish
between education and upbringing. They have an emancipated
image of man; striving for equality, independence and honest,
social relationships. That is why a beforehand determined
programme is maximally partly possible. “Lessons of life”
make you learn from the experiences that occur. That is why
the combination of knowledge of education and the vision on
upbringing is indispensable. So innovative, successful concepts
are put into practice. Involvement becomes visible, wellbeing
becomes perceptible. Experience oriented dialogues in which
acceptance, authenticity and empathy are conditional, become
“normal conversations” in this way. Linkedness is not a metaphor.
And that is something we know for sure! Why? Because the
children retell “the big story” in their own language. They are
talking about their own happiness and that of others with lots
of examples. And if children are able to share their positive,
constructive experiences, the circle is completed. As completed
as the world in which Japan and the Netherlands can learn
from each other.
Marcel van Herpen
Marcel van Herpen is divisional head of the expertise centre
EOE Netherlands, co-founder of primary school “Uilenspiegel”
(the first EOE primary school in the Netherlands, 1990), cofounder of NIVOZ, final editor of the educational magazine
“Egoscoop” and author of Experience Oriented Education:
from orientation to implementation (2005) See also: www.
marcelvanherpen.nl
The definition, concepts and materials of Experiential
Education refers to the work of Ferre Laevers and The Centre
for Experiential Education, Leuven, Belgium. (www.cego.be)
1
Rousseau
2
Jean-Jacques Rousseau werd in 1712 in Genève geboren als zoon van een vermaarde horlogemaker.
Zijn moeder overleeft de bevalling niet. De eerste tien jaar van zijn leven woont hij eerst bij een tante
en daarna bij zijn vader. Samen met hem leest hij de romans van zijn overleden moeder. Die eerste
jaren in het vredige, geordende Genève zijn zo gelukkig dat hij er zijn hele leven naar terugverlangt.
In Parijs hoopt hij belangstelling te kunnen wekken voor een door hem ontwikkelde nieuwe manier
van muziekschrift, met behulp van getallen. Hij wordt in de kringen van intellectuelen welwillend
ontvangen maar in zijn notenschrift ziet men geen nut. Hij schrijft een geleerde verhandeling over de
moderne muziek en laat zich uitzenden naar Venetië als secretaris van de adellijke Franse ambassadeur.
Ergert zich daar aan de leegheid en ijdelheid van diens leven, wordt ontslagen en keert terug naar Parijs,
verlangend naar een staatsvorm met een goed bestuur, gericht op het welzijn van eenvoudige burgers.
Diderot vraagt hem mee te werken aan zijn grote project, de beroemde Encyclopédie, monument van
de ‘Verlichting’. Rousseau schrijft daarin alle artikelen over muziek.
Als denker wordt Rousseau pas bekend in 1750 wanneer hij een prijsvraag wint die is uitgeschreven
door de Academie van Dijon voor een sceptisch geschrift over de zedelijke waarde van de Kunsten en
de Wetenschappen. In dit essay, Discours sur les sciences et les arts, stelde hij dat de vooruitgang van
kunst en wetenschap niet gunstig was geweest voor de mensheid (in West-Europa). De vooruitgang van
kennis had regeringen sterker gemaakt en de individuele vrijheid ondergeschikt gemaakt. Rousseau
concludeerde dat materiële vooruitgang de mogelijkheid van oprechte vriendschap had ondermijnd en
vervangen door jaloezie, angst en wantrouwen.
In zijn Discours sur l’origine et les fondements de l’inégalité parmi les hommes (Vertoog over de
ongelijkheid tussen mensen) uit 1755 stelt hij dat de mens van nature, dus in primitieve staat, en
voorafgaand aan enige opvoeding, zoals een ‘edele wilde’ of ‘nobele wilde’ goed is en alleen door
ervaringen in de maatschappij gecorrumpeerd wordt. De onbedorven natuurstaat is verdwenen door
het in eigendom nemen van land, bronnen, mensen, en dergelijke, de oorzaak van ongelijkheid en
uitbuiting. De huidige staat is een schepping van de machtigen uit eigenbelang.
Zijn boek Emile ou de l’éducation (Emile, of over de opvoeding)is voor het eerst gedrukt in 1762 en in
Frankrijk vrijwel meteen verboden. In dit boek wordt een jongen uit een goed
milieu opgevoed door een huisleraar. Zonder dwang of straf, zonder haast, in
de provincie, ver van het ijdele stadsleven, in verbondenheid met de natuur.
Emile leert door ervaringen die zijn huisleraar, niet toevallig ook Jean-Jacques
geheten, voor hem organiseert. Leren door te doen, timmerwerk, tuinieren,
zwemmen, verdwalen in bossen, en dergelijke. Hij leert Emile door eigen
ervaring respect hebben voor boeren en handwerkslieden en leert hem dat
die eigenlijk hoger staan dan koningen en prelaten. Rousseau geloofde in de
aangeboren goedheid van de mens. De verschillen tussen arm en rijk, tussen
heersers en onderdrukten maken de mens slecht.
Pestalozzi
Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi werd in 1746 in
Zürich geboren. Pestalozzi werd geïnspireerd
door Rousseau’s ideeën en onderzocht hoe ze
konden worden ontwikkeld en geïmplanteerd.
Hij was zelf van “goede” familie, maar erg
betrokken bij de ellendige omstandigheden,
waarin veel zwervende kinderen leefden.
Velen waren weggelopen vanwege het zware
werk en de aframmelingen, soms waren ze in
lompen gehuld en uitgehongerd. Hij zette zijn
huis open voor deze kinderen en begon ze les
te geven. Heel anders dan gebruikelijk was in
die tijd, dus geen tafels opdreunen en domweg
uit het hoofd leren van teksten. Hij zat tussen
zijn leerlingen, stond toe dat ze lachten, vond
de lei uit om te schrijven en ontwikkelde
methodes, die aansloten bij de kinderwereld.
Zelfs voor kleuters heeft hij eigen materiaal
ontwikkeld, iets wat toen nog niet bestond.
Met zingen, gymnastiek en lessen in de open
lucht verlevendigde hij de schooldag. Kinderen
moesten plezier hebben in het leren.
“Dat mijn hart mijn leerlingen toebehoort,dat
hun geluk mijn geluk en hun vreugde mijn
vreugde is, dat zouden ze van de vroege
morgen tot de late avond ieder ogenblik op
mijn voorhoofd moeten zien en op mijn lippen
vermoeden.”
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